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AN INNOVATIVE ANALYTICAL PLATFORM TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECT AND TOXICITY OF MICRO AND NANO PLASTICS COMBINED WITH ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINANTS ON THE RISK OF ALLERGIC DISEASE IN PRECLINICAL AND CLINICAL

Project description

Microplastic pollution under the microscope

The rise in plastic pollution of the ocean is visible, but some plastics are so small they cannot be seen by the naked eye. At the sub-five-millimetre down to nanometre scale, these tiny plastics are also entering the environment and posing a huge concern for biota and human health. The EU-funded Imptox project will develop an analytical platform to investigate the effect and toxicity of micro- and nanoplastic particles (MNPs) combined with environmental contaminants on the risk of allergic disease in preclinical and clinical studies. The platform will be designed to find suitable analytical approaches for determining the extent of the problem. Findings will lead to novel tools for MNP detection and increased awareness of disease risk.

Objective

There is an urgent need to understand the risks on human health of micro- and nano-plastic particles (MNPs) that contaminate food and environment. We aim to create a cross-disciplinary platform to design suitable analytical approaches for determining the extent of the problem in the environment and to our health by evaluating the influence of ingested and inhaled exposure of MNPs contaminated with metals, allergens, pathogenic bacteria and toxins on allergic responses.
Our strategy includes developing a novel combination of tools to identify, extract, characterize, and quantify MNPs from selected foods, environmental media, and tissues of exposed animals to assess MNP prevalence based on size, shape and type. We will produce and label MNPs for use in a variety of pre-clinical studies to investigate toxicity and responses to MNPs, contaminants and allergens. We plan to use novel stable isotope 13C labelling and detection to determine MNP fate and accumulation in the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts and secondary organs after immediate and chronic exposure and the effect on allergic immune responses at the cellular and molecular levels. Additionally, we designed a clinical study to evaluate the influence of MNP exposure in humans.
The outcome of this state-of-the-art project includes
- novel tools for MNP detection
- improved understanding of the effects of NMPs combined with critical contaminants in the air, water and food on human health and discovery of predictive biomarkers
- increased awareness of disease risk in response to MNPs and contaminants
- improved communication strategies between science and relevant stakeholders and contribution to blue growth and the health-relevant aims of the European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy
- policy-relevant scientific data in support of improved human health hazard and risk assessment and for response and mitigation policies at the national and EU level for policymakers.
ImpTox is part of the European MNP cluster on human health.

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RIA - Research and Innovation action

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(opens in new window) H2020-SC1-BHC-2018-2020

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Coordinator

HEMIJSKI FAKULTET, UNIVERZITET U BEOGRADU
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 881 750,00
Address
STUDENTSKI TRG 12-16
11001 Beograd
Serbia

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Region
Србија - север Београдски регион Београдска област
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 881 750,00

Participants (11)

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